经济学人下载:Bartleby专栏:心理健康举足轻重(1)

HISTORY is full of jobs that took an immense physical toll on employees,
历史上，对员工们的身体造成重大伤害的工作有很多。

from miners and construction workers through to those who suffered "phossy jaw" (a destruction of the jawbone)
比如矿工和建筑工人，以及19世纪末至20世纪初的那些

in the match factories of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
患上“磷毒性颌骨坏死”的火柴厂工人。

But it is only in the past couple of decades that workers' mental health has become more widely discussed and understood.
但是直到过去几十年，员工们的精神健康问题才逐渐被人们讨论和理解。

The first World Mental Health Day was organised in 1992; the latest was marked on October 10th.
首个世界精神卫生日是在1992年发起；最近一次是在10月10日。

Charity campaigns, like "time to change" in Britain, try to remove the stigma associated with mental-health problems.
一些慈善活动，比如英国的“time to change”，它们试图消除有关精神健康问题的污名。

Those problems are widespread. A recent review of studies in Europe found that 38% of the EU's population suffers from a mental disorder
那些精神健康问题广泛存在。在欧洲，一份近期的研究综述发现每年有38%的欧洲人患上某种精神障碍

(on a broad definition, ranging from anxiety to drug dependence) each year.
（广义上来讲就是，焦虑症或药物依赖这样的精神疾病）。

As well as severe distress, this inevitably leads to absenteeism and poor performance.
和严重的心理痛苦一样，精神障碍不可避免地会导致旷工和工作表现不佳。

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that mental-health troubles cost the global economy $1trn a year in lost output.
据世界卫生组织（WHO）估计，每年心理健康问题会造成全球经济产量1万亿美元的损失。

In a survey of American workers, 63% of respondents reported that stress in the workplace had a significant impact on their mental and behavioural health.
在对美国雇员进行的一项调查中，63%的被调查对象称工作上的压力对他们的精神和行为健康有巨大的影响。

According to a study by the Confederation of British Industry, which represents big businesses,
英国工商业联合会（该组织代表着一些大型企业）的一项研究表明，

40% of employers in 2017 reported that more than 5% of their workforce had a mental-health issue.
在2017年，40%的雇主称有超过5%的员工患上了心理健康问题。

That was nearly a fourfold increase on a similar survey conducted in 2013.
和2013年进行的类似调查相比，该比例上涨了近4倍。

This higher figure may actually be an encouraging sign. As the stigma surrounding mental illness fades, more people may be willing to admit to it.
事实上这个数字的上涨或许是一个令人鼓舞的迹象。随着围绕在精神病周围的污名褪去，或许有更多的人愿意承认自己患有精神障碍。

Society has certainly come a long way in its treatment of mental health.
在治疗心理健康方面，社会确实取得了极大的进展。

When Bartleby's father suffered from depression after losing out from a job reshuffle in the 1960s,
20世纪60年代，当赫尔曼·梅尔维尔（《Bartleby, the Scrivener》的作者）的父亲在大换岗后失业因而患上了抑郁症，

the doctors suggested electric-shock treatment.
医生们建议使用电击疗法。

Bartleby's grandmother suffered from severe post-natal depression in the 1920s; she was placed in a mental home and never saw her child again.
梅尔维尔的祖母在20世纪20年代患上了严重的产后抑郁症；她被送入一家精神病院，从此再也没见过她的孩子。

Nowadays treatment is much more likely to be associated with pharmaceuticals
如今的治疗更有可能和药物

(though admittedly this can bring its own problems, notably the risk of addiction) and with therapy.
（不可否认药物也会带来问题，尤其是上瘾的风险）以及疗法相配合。